Aileen: Do you have a Neem tree planted in your house or somewhere nearby? If you have, you are blessed. Neem is a highly beneficial tree that can be used in so many forms. However, I am not sure about the use of Neem seeds as a source for nitrogen. Than, are you talking about neem fruit or neem seed? (as you mentioned the garden will become stinky). Neem fruit has different uses than neem seed. i remember when I was a small kid, my grandmother used to make us eat neem fruit (it very very bitter) and also used to give us bath in water boiled with neem leaves. Neem is a native tree of my area but now it is grown in many parts of the world, specially warm areas. It has countless medicinal uses in our traditional culture.

I have been using neem in different forms in my garden, mainly as an organic pesticide. It is very effective. I mostly boil the neem leaves and use neem water as a pesticide when needed. It's very effective against aphids and so many other pests, however, like all pesticides, it kills the beneficials too.

I have never used any part of neem as a fertilizer so can't be of much help to you on that.

best regards

Aileen: tobacco leaves are effective against caterpillars and aphids. Google that and you'll see. Tobacco leaves have NPK of 4- 0.5 -6, a nitrogen of 4, and a potassium of 6 is excellent. Tea leaves that Khalid uses have NPK of 4.15 - 0.62 - 0.4.

Walmart sells fertilizer at reduced price in the fall, I always stock up on blood meal NPK 12-0-0 plus iron. Blood meal is lower in salt than chicken manure, and I need lots of nitrogen due to my roses die to the crown in my zone 5a winter.

Peanut shells that Val uses has NPK or 0.8 - 0.15 - 0.5 ... I used cocoa mulch NPK of 2.5 -1 -3, but it's so high in sticky magnesium which makes nitrogen long-lasting. When nitrogen is given with magnesium (as in alfalfa meal) .. it's effective for years.

It has been 5 years since I dumped the entire 40 lbs. bag of alfalfa meal on that tomato bed, and those are still 4 times more leaves than the ones in front. Magnesium is the "glue" that holds nutrients long.

Hair is just as high in nitrogen as blood meal, but without iron. NPK of hair is 12 to 16 in nitrogen. Here's from livescience.com on using hair as fertilizer:

"Previous studies had also shown that human hair discarded from barbershops and hair salons can also be a nutrient source for plants when combined with other compost materials. But it had not yet been proven that hair could act alone as an effective fertilizer.

To test this, Vlatcho Zheljazkov and his colleagues at Mississippi State University pitted waste hair against commercial fertilizers. They compared the productivity of four plants, lettuce, wormwood, yellow poppy and feverfew, under four different treatments: non-composted hair cubes, a controlled-release fertilizer, a water-soluble fertilizer, and no treatment.

Plant yields increased for the hair-fertilized plants compared to the untreated controls overall, but were still lower than for the commercial, inorganic fertilizers in lettuce and wormwood, which are fast-growing plants. Yellow poppy, however, saw higher yields for the hair treatment. (The results didn't differ between fertilizers for the feverfew.)"

Khalid: Thank you for getting me back on track. I forget to ask how's your experience using tobacco leaves against pests? I checked on neem seed NPK 6-2-1 on Amazon, that stuff is expensive $79 for a 40 lb., versus $20 for a 40 lb. no-salt Standlee alfalfa pellets at NPK 3-1-2.

I pay attention to the negative reviews on Amazon. One time I researched on a probiotics, it has 1000+ faked good reviews, and only a handful of honest negative reviews. Every time I put a negative review in Amazon, my "likes vote" go down, but I don't care. Cheers to smileson on writing the below honest review.

https://www.amazon.com/Down-Earth-Neem-Seed-Fertilizer/product-reviews/B00KO4L7L8/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=recent

By smileson December 11, 2015

I woud not recommend as a soil additive. Had issues with a white fungus and the soil was crusty where this was mixed in. I use Neem oil to keep bugs away from my plants which works great this however is a bad idea.

*** Horse manure gets my vote as the best pest-control. Stables buy nematodes to put in manure. These nematodes are predators to pest-larvae, esp. the flies that bother horses. One time I got a tiny bit of horse manure in a bucket of water, and the bucket was teeming with nematodes .. they are much bigger than mosquito' larvae.

My 3 years of well-composted horse manure: pests was never a problem, that include aphids, thrips, midge, and rose slugs. There are so many weird creatures in horse manure that are predators.

One guy wrote a book to blame horse manure for giving his roses midge .. yes, if he gets the fluffy type, rather than the well-rotted humus-manure, plus he has sandy soil, which dries out fast. I never see midge in my clay garden, until I dumped fluffy-potting soil on top on Golden Celebration, then I got a few midges, which spring flood killed them.

Straw: I found tobacco water spray very effective against aphids, thrips etc. However, I stopped using it as killed the ladybirds too and with more calcium, my roses perhaps didn't stay that lucrative to the aphids etc.

I am waiting for Aileen to explain a bit more that what exactly she want's to do with neem seed? Use it as both fertilizer and pesticide at the same time?

best regards

I was referring to the product that Straw found on Amazon. Sounds like neem seed might kill the worms. Bad idea.

I gave used neem oil diluted with water on the foliage and it can burn. Khalid how does one make neem water?

Aileen: You are right. Neem oil is very strong and even a slightly bigger amount than what is required can cause leaf burn.

Neem water can be made by boiling neem leaves. Since I have fresh or dried neem leaves locally available, I always prefer neem water and rarely use neem oil.

I have never used the product being sold on Amazon as Neem Seed Meal so I have no idea how that will work. We don't have these processed products available to us and since Neem is a local tree, we use it in the natural form. I always prefer to use neem leaves, boil them in water and spray them on the bushes.

I have never used these Neem leaves or fruit or seeds as a fertilizer or mulch etc and have never used them in my compost too. The spraying of neem water or diluted solution of neem oil kills most insects in the area.

Thanks for explaining. I try not to use even diluted neem oil anymore on the foliage since I read it was toxic to bees. I think I do notice this year more beneficial insects and fewer aphids than last year. I have planted a lot of Salvia, nepeta, hyacinth been vine and that has attracted a lot of bees.

Aileen: I always keep neem oil in my stuff but now, I am quite careful in using it. I intend using it only when there is some very severe pest attack, not in routine.

This year, I used tobacco water a few times in early spring but when I saw that it harms the lady birds etc, I stopped using that too. Extra doze of Ca and K did help in making my roses more robust and perhaps un-attractive to the pest and from late spring onward, I didn't notice any serious aphid / thrip attack in my garden. Lady birds took care of them. Every now and then I did find few leaves with holes but nothing very serious and I just decided to live with it. Few odd leaves with holes on a rose bush do not bother me.

I therefore decided not to use even an organic pesticide to save my bushes from low intensity pest attacks and I am happy with that. No serious damage caused to my roses this year by the pests though there were effects of certain mineral deficiencies which is a different matter.

best regards